I recently revisited the 2024 instrumental album In Stereo from Tom Bukovac and Guthrie Trapp and thought I’d write a quick review here.
If you’re not already familiar with Bukovac and/or Trapp, they are both Nashville players with a long pedigree of live and studio playing. They have also been pretty active on YouTube over the past few years. Bukovac has a popular long-running “Homeskoolin’” series, while Trapp also regularly posts educational content on his channel.
The album features a lot of great guitar tones. My understanding is that Tom used a vintage Les Paul and a vintage Stratocaster while Guthrie used his main Danocaster guitar. The amps were primarily Fenders with minimal effects on top. Both players primarily use clean and mildly overdriven tones throughout the record. It’s really a beautifully recorded album.
You might expect an album featuring two of the top Nashville session players to feature a lot of country guitar shredding, but that’s not what this album is. Sure, there is plenty of great guitar playing here, but I wouldn’t categorize many of the songs as country songs.
Instead, I would describe this album as atmospheric with some country elements, some jazz elements, and some rock elements, which all meld together nicely.
From what I can tell, Tom and Guthrie have been friends for a long time. I think this leads to a relaxed-feeling album without the need to overplay for one another. Both players are tasteful and their playing fits well within the context of each song. It sounds like they are having a musical conversation within the songs.
What I like about the record is that it works well as background music while I’m working as the playing doesn’t overwhelm the listener. But, the record also rewards a closer active listening session where you can really take into account the wonderful guitar playing from both of them.
If you’re looking for an instrumental album that isn’t all about shredding but still has plenty of great guitar playing, I’d recommend checking out In Stereo:
You can also check out a few behind the scenes moments in the video below:
